Revival of the Bulgarian Army

The Bulgarian Volunteer Units became the core of the Bulgarian Territorial Army, established by order N.1 dated July 15th ,1878 .It was built up as a regular army on the principle of conscription and had four branches : infantry, cavalry, artillery and sappers. In August 1879 were laid the grounds of the Bulgarian Navy. The Bulgarian Territorial army did not manage to achieve the foreseen 84 750 men and, at the end of 1878, it amounted to 31 400 men.

For training of the future officers in November 1878 in Sofia was open Military School , where were admitted 255 Bulgarian cadets, and other 132 young men were sent to study in military schools in Russia. In Veliko Tarnovo started working a training school for non-commissioned officers .Opened were doctor’s assistants’ schools in Sofia , Plovdiv, Veliko Tarnovo and Tatar Pazardjik /modern Pazardjik/.

On July 5th 1879 in the structure of the first Bulgarian government was founded Ministry of War as the highest military administrative institution in Bulgaria, securing defense of state sovereignty, national independence and territorial integrity of the country. On December 17th ,1879 came into force “Temporary statute of the Bulgarian Army”, which played the role of the first law for the armed forces. Every Bulgarian citizen of age from 21 to 40 was due to military service. The territorial principle of reinforcement of the army became valid.